All my pets love the warm weather! As wonderful as this time of the year is, there are some things that come with the animals that we don't want in the house, namely fleas, ticks, and other parasites. Besides being enough trouble in and of themselves, fleas also cause tapeworm infestation if any pet itches or bites themselves from a flea bite.
In the course of itching and grooming, unless a pet is treated for fleas, they will probably swallow one. If the cat hunts small animals which have fleas, the cat ingests them that way. By the time you see little white specks on the behinds of your pet you are probably alarmed, for a second, and then you remember how common they are, and then you relax.
Tapeworms should have been called "little grains of rice worms". You can see them on the hind end of your cats or dogs. They are little, tiny segments of white. They can move and they are easily visible. If they are really long segments instead of small segments they are not tapeworms, but roundworms.
Here are some ideas on healthy preventive approaches to tapeworms, and other intestinal worms that affect your cat or dog. I only give garlic to the cats, my dogs are too large, and I would have to give them too much in my opinion. These supplements can go into the diet: Garlic and Food Grade DE.
Garlic:
My cats get 1/16 of a teaspoon. I mix 1/16 of a teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon cut in half twice) of garlic from a bottle with the soft food meal they eat everyday. Alternatively, you could squeeze half a clove of garlic into their meal everyday, until the tapeworms are gone.
Any more garlic than listed above could actually cause the cat to get anemia. I am aware that this may spark a debate on whether garlic should be used to treat animals since it is in the onion family and onions are a very big no no.
Food Grade DE:
Another treatment or approach is Food Grade DE, or Diatomaceous Earth, the kind that is food grade. Tractor Supply has it, and the following link sells it online. The one at Tractor Supply has a picture of chickens on it and a cow or horse on the package.
http://www.arbico-organics.com
Farms use diatomaceous earth, the kind that is food grade, to treat and prevent internal parasites in their livestock. It also is a natural remedy for ridding dogs and cats of hook worms, roundworms, tapeworms, and other intestinal parasites.
Dosages for Dogs and Cats:
For dogs, 1-2 tbsp per 50 lbs is mixed with food for a period of 60 to 90 days or throughout the parasite season, or when needed.
For cats, one teaspoon of diatomaceous earth mixed with the cat's food for two weeks will usually clear any degree of tapeworm infestation.
After the infestation subsides, a daily dose can serve as a preventative measure. As an added bonus, diatomaceous earth lessens the odor in feces and repels flies.
You can wear a mask as you don't want to really inhale it. I never do but it is advised not to inhale it in, it is like talcum powder only finer. That is why it should be kept away from kids, they like to play in things that look like fine sand!
The DE sold at Walmart for pools is not the same product. It is processed differently. Only food grade will help your pets. The pool DE is poisonous. Don't use the kind for sprinkling around for bugs either. It has to be food grade, it is processed differently. If the label says anything other than food grade, you cannot feed it to your animals. Store it away from children so they won't breathe it in, or play with it.
By Robyn Fed from Tri-Cities, TN
Question about the garlic. I have dehydrated garlic you mix part for part with water. Will that work? My dog is a Chihuahua. Will it be ok for her and how much?
